


Close Your Eyes

by LittleBlueArtist



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-12 08:31:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7927888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleBlueArtist/pseuds/LittleBlueArtist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shiro and Allura can't sleep. It's been years since either of them has closed their eyes. Maybe all they needed was a warm body to cuddle with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Close Your Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> This is a commission for the lovely [arcwinds](https://twitter.com/arcwinds) on twitter! I hope you enjoy! If you want your own commission, look at the end notes! As always you can find me at [noyaplease](http://noyaplease.tumblr.com) on tumblr!

The mice sneak their ways through the empty, quiet halls of the Altean castle. It echos their every step. When the kitchen door swings open they scramble from the light, desperate to remain unseen. This time of night isn’t for rodents like them. They had only been making their way to Pidge’s room. Instead they are met with bright blue eyes and white hair pulled into a loose bun. Princess Allura smiles and kneels down, hands softly brushing against each mouse’s head. Despite her tiredness, her weariness, she smiles. It glitters through her irises and has the mice squeaking and squealing along. She pats each once more, and with a voice that’s a lot cheerier than she feels, says, “Head off along, it’s late. You all need your rest.”

She can feel their sleepiness through the link they share. The mice nod and scurry along, little feet padding on the floor. The princess stands and dusts off her nightgown, letting her composure fall for only a moment before putting it back. She can’t let herself believe that who she had been, the life of love she lived 10,000 years ago, is completely gone.

A heavy breath knocks her out of her thoughts. Allura jumps a bit and turns, a sigh of relief escaping her lips when she sees who it is. Her slippers shuffle on the ground as she walks towards him. His heart beats in her ears when she leans her head on his broad chest, arms wrapping around him. “You scared me,” she whispers, eyes fluttering closed.

“You should be more alert if you’re going to stay up all night, princess,” Shiro scolds back, no real heat in his tone. The only real thing in his words is the never ending exhaustion that courses through his veins, bubbles through his blood, builds up in his throat until it comes spilling out all at once. The bags under his eyes go down to his knees. He puts his arms around Allura, resting his chin against her head, closing his eyes for a second that feels like a year.

“Is it night already?”

“Unfortunately.” Shiro lightly pushes Allura off him so he can get some water. He’s been awake for a countless number of days, nightmares plaguing every attempt he makes to rest. He knows that soon he’ll start hallucinating, taking involuntary micronaps, feeling weaker until his body can’t hold up anymore. For now, the cool water going down his throat is good enough.

They’ve landed the ship on some random planet while the team rests. He remembers Coran saying it’s name, something along the lines of Sorakt or Sakort. He can’t remember. The air here is denser, heavier than the other places they’ve been. It pushes on his joints and makes his shoulder ache. He crunched the metal of his bedframe from gripping it too hard. The pain doesn’t go away no matter what he tries.

“Shiro, stop, you’re cracking the glass.”

Allura’s voice snaps him back to reality. It’s calm but a bit concerned. The glass he’s holding has spiderweb cracks along one side. “Sorry, Princess,” he replies, setting it down in the sink.

He can feel one hand travel down his mechanical arm, the other holding his shoulder steady. “I wish I knew more about this so I could help you. I’m sorry.”

Shiro turns, gently takes his arm out of her hands. He wants to rip it out, scream at her for touching it, tear the arm out of his skin and throw it into a black hole so he’ll never see it again. This arm is poison. “You’ve been asleep for ten thousand years. I don’t expect you to know any more than I do.”

He’s right. She _has_ been asleep for that long. So long that nothing of her old life remains. Her father, her siblings, her mother. Now that she’s awake, growing, talking, her memories are slipping. Was Aleya’s voice like Alteria’s? Did they both have the same blue eyes as her? Did their mother make special Altean tea on Korak’s Day or did she make it for Remembrance Day? Was her house big, small? Her entire life is slipping from her. The thought that one day their laughs will only be faint keeps her awake. She doesn’t want to forget them, never wants to forget them, but she’s starting to already.

“Princess, follow me. We should try to lay down for a bit.”

Allura doesn’t hesitate to place her hand in his outstretched one. She thinks about how warm it is as they enter Shiro’s room. His bed barely fits the two of them, but they make space. Allura rests in between Shiro’s legs, head laying against his chest. His smell wraps around her, something like Earth’s soil and the minty scent of his toothpaste. She takes a deep breath.

They slowly settle until they’re laying side by side, Shiro at Allura’s back, arm around her waist. Her head uses his human arm as a pillow. She can feel him relax behind her, muscles unclenching from whatever had him on edge. She can feel her own body start calming, brain running less than a million miles per minute.

Her yawn fills the room.

“Get to sleep, Princess,” Shiro says, placing a gentle kiss on her head, loving how soft her hair is against his skin.

“Shiro, please, call me Allura.”

“I’ll call you Princess until you remember you are one.” He never wants her to forget that she is royalty. She is important. She is Allura, Princess of Altea. Zarkon had stripped him of everything during his imprisonment. By the time he came back to Earth, he barely remembered his own name, just the cheering of the crowd as he took another life.. It took days to get anything back. He wants to make sure nothing like that happens to any of his friends--his _family_.

Allura’s heart skips a beat at his words. What is she a princess of? A home that no longer exists? A planet that was obliterated? “I’m not a princess any longer.”

Shiro’s lips feather kisses on the back of her neck, resting on her shoulder, hot and soft. It burns her skin. She shifts more into him. “You’ll always be a princess, even if it’s just to me, the other paladins, and Coran. A queen has to start a kingdom somewhere, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah,” Allura smiles, letting her eyes fall closed for the first time in a century. “They have to start somewhere.”

They fall asleep like that, using each other as an anchor, keeping them tethered to what little they call home.

***

The next morning, Lance barges into Shiro’s room without thinking, about to ask what’s in mind for training. Instead, his eyes land on the tangled mess that is Shiro and Allura. A smile so big it practically cracks his face come onto his lips. It almost hurts. Taking a quick picture he darts out of the room yelling, “Keith! You owe me twenty bucks! I won the bet by a landslide!”

Keith gives Lance the twenty bucks.

Allura avoids the paladins for the entire day.

Shiro blushes.

Hunk and Pidge pretend not to notice when Shiro and Allura sneak quick kisses in the hallway.

**Author's Note:**

> Did you like this fic? Want more of your own? Well I have good news! I've opened commissions! Find the info post [here!](http://noyaplease.tumblr.com/post/149722884338/writing-commissions)


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